clips and copyright

L

LloydC

Veteran
If I used an audio clip from the internet (of George Bush), would it violate copyright?


I know it may sound stupid, but I'm desperately looking for voice clips I can use in a short film I'm doing.
 
As I recall, US presidents are considered public domain, so whatever they say........is free from copyright etc.
 
Probably depends on what you intend to do with it. If you intend to chop it up and then cut it together such that the State of the Union address becomes "We must stand together to buy Coca Cola products", you can pretty much be assured you'd run afoul of the rights of publicity that even public figures are entitled to. Celebrities and politicians are usually classified as public figures and therefore don't necessarily enjoy the same level of privacy protection as private citizens do, but there are definitely still limits on what can be done.

IANAL, but if you're using it under fair use provisions (news, docs, education, etc), you should be fine.
 
Wouldn't there be concern about WHO'S recording of the speach is being used? I.e. CBS, or ABC are the ones that recorded it and ran it through their show, etc.
 
Barry_Green said:
Probably depends on what you intend to do with it. If you intend to chop it up and then cut it together such that the State of the Union address becomes "We must stand together to buy Coca Cola products", you can pretty much be assured you'd run afoul of the rights of publicity that even public figures are entitled to. . . . ..
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I think if you re-cut something it would actually be easier to get away with because it would fall under satire. Think Jon Stweart or SNL.

Cheers,
Chris
 
Envision said:
Wouldn't there be concern about WHO'S recording of the speach is being used? I.e. CBS, or ABC are the ones that recorded it and ran it through their show, etc.
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A lot of times the news services are just taking a feed from the White House, so it would already be a copy of a PD Government source.

Especially the prez, since I doubt the SS would appreciate some outsider wiring him up. :)
 
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